A Mycoplasma strain F38 growth-inhibiting monoclonal antibody (WM-25) identifies an epitope on a surface-exposed polysaccharide antigen.

Monoclonal antibody (MAb) WM-25 differentiates by in vitro growth inhibition Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae (Mycoplasma strain F38), which causes contagious carpine pleuropneumonia, from other Mycoplasma spp. (F. R. Rurangirwa, T. C. McGuire, A. J. Musoke, and A. Kibor, Infect. Immun. 55:3219-3220, 1987). The antigen identified by MAb WM-25 was isolated from solubilized Mycoplasma strain F38 organisms by MAb WM-25 affinity chromatography and was stained with Schiff's reagent, but not with Coomassie blue, after separation by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Treatment of purified F38 polysaccharide with periodate abolished binding with MAb WM-25, and MAb WM-25 binding was blocked with laminarin, a complex oligosaccharide with beta(1-->3) sugar linkages. Purified F38 polysaccharide blocked both growth inhibition and agglutination of live F38 organisms caused by MAb WM-25 and rabbit antiserum to F38 organisms. The results in this paper demonstrate that MAb WM-25 binds a periodate-sensitive epitope on the F38 polysaccharide which is also exposed on the surface of Mycoplasma strain F38. Because MAb WM-25 also causes in vitro growth inhibition of F38, the reactive polysaccharide epitope may induce protective immune responses.

Lupus mastitis.

We describe a woman with sclerotic and atrophic lesions of the breast. Histopathologic and immunologic findings indicated a diagnosis of lupus erythematosus. Lupus mastitis is a rare presentation of panniculitis; only a few cases have been reported in the literature.

Lymphocyte subsets and Langerhans cells in sun-protected and sun-exposed skin of immunosuppressed renal allograft recipients.

BACKGROUND: Patients who have received renal allografts experience early aging of the skin, opportunistic infections, and an increased incidence of skin cancer. OBJECTIVE: We compared the density of lymphocyte subsets and Langerhans cells in normal-appearing skin of renal allograft recipients without skin cancer at 5 to 6 years (group 1) and 14 years after transplant (group 2) with a matched normal control group. METHODS: Biopsy specimens of sun-protected and exposed areas from 18 white, kidney allograft recipients (10 in group 1 and 8 in group 2) with normal renal function and from 10 healthy volunteers were semiquantitatively analyzed for dermal lymphocyte subsets and Langerhans cells. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in all dermal cell elements in the sun-protected skin of both groups of patients who had received grafts. The sun-exposed skin of group 2 also showed a significant decrease of dermal CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes, and group 1 had a significant decrease in dermal CD8+ lymphocytes. The dermal CD1a+ cell population in the sun-exposed skin from both grafted groups did not differ from the control group. CONCLUSION: Kidney transplant recipients showed dermal depletion of cells related to immune surveillance against tumors even before skin cancer occurred, and this depletion seemed to become more marked with the duration of immunosuppression.

Monoclonal antibody E8-18 identifies an integral membrane surface protein unique to Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae.

Monoclonal antibody (MAb) E8-18 reacted with four isolates of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae in Western blots identifying an epitope on a 24 kDa antigen (p24). MAb E8-18 did not react with 11 isolates belonging to four other Mycoplasma species or subspecies closely related to M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae. A combination of trypsin treatment of intact organisms and detergent-phase partitioning revealed p24 to be an integral M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae surface membrane protein.

Leishmaniasis in Kenya: description of leishmaniasis of a domestic goat from Transmara, Narok District, Kenya.

Extensive research has been carried out in Eastern Africa for animal reservoirs of both visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. The domestic dog has been the only domestic animal so far implicated as a possible reservoir for visceral leishmaniasis. For cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania aethiopica, the hyrax and the giant rat are the proven reservoirs of the disease while several species of rodents have been demonstrated to harbor L. major. Recent studies conducted in domestic animals in West Pokot led to the first isolation of leishmanial parasites from a domestic goat, a close associate of man in the vast endemic leishmaniasis foci. Consequent encounter of a clinical case of the disease is the basis for this paper. It is the first autochthonous case in Eastern Africa. The goat originated from the Western escarpments of the Rift Valley which are known to harbor L. aethiopica. Clinical signs included lesions, indurations, and enlargement of lymph nodes. Parasitological and pathological investigations revealed amastigotes in various tissues. Cultures of the affected tissues produced promastigotes.